


Batman Needs a Robin

by curiously_me



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-23
Updated: 2013-10-23
Packaged: 2017-12-30 05:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1014814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiously_me/pseuds/curiously_me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The simple fact is that Batman will always need a Robin at his side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Batman Needs a Robin

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my [hurt/comfort bingo card (forced to participate in illegal / hurtful activity)](http://sly-hostetter.dreamwidth.org/163611.html). While nothing illegal is happening in this story, I interpreted the bingo prompt as hurtful activity which, for Bruce, is pretending to be _Brucie_ and/or being alone.
> 
> Not beta'ed.

Sometimes the life I've chosen for myself can be so very lonely. Even when I'm surrounded by the elite of my city, flirted with and sucked up to by daughters and their mothers, talking business with the fathers, I feel... disconnected.

It hasn't always been this way, occasionally I have been bless with a ray of hope. My first partner, the young Richard Grayson, so bright and full of joy that I often feared I would sully his beautiful spirit.

In the end, I had to send Dick away though. I had started to see too much of myself in him and knew it was time to save him from the one person he thought he'd never have to fear... me. I made sure he left angry, furiously so, to the sound of slamming doors and screeching tires. I couldn't bear the thought of him harboring any hopes of returning. If he came back, I wouldn't be able to turn him away and would, inevitably, destroy everything about him that I cherished.

It was difficult, but I learned to manage on my own after Dick. I had survived before Robin and I would continue to do so for as long as I had to.

The first time I laid eyes on Jason Todd, he was covered in grease and other filth, looking far too thin and young to have survived on the streets of Gotham. And he had managed to remove three of the bat-mobile's tires entirely on his own.

He never did apologize for that, in the years that I knew him. It was something I've always viewed as fate; a scrawny street rat taking such a huge risk, coming to the forefront of Batman's attention. It took guts that most grown, hardened men didn't have to cross the Batman.

I can still remember how the slightly terrified, indignantly fierce look in his eyes had me ushering him into my life before I could even stop myself or think twice. Alfred says I have a soft spot for orphans. I have no idea where he gets such flights of fancy.

I was certain that all Jason needed was stability and a firm hand in his life to help him gain control of his boundless anger. But I was wrong. While I was trying, unsuccessfully, to be a father, all Jason wanted (needed) was a friend. He was desperate for someone to just talk to... Dick would have been the perfect companion and confidant, but I had driven him too far away and still further by appointing Jason as my second Robin.

Jason, my strong-willed, self-assured Robin, was to be be my first great mistake. He was murdered by the Joker, died in vain trying to save his unworthy mother by himself when I should never have allowed him to be alone.

As I stood by my son's grave, I swore that I would never allow another to take up the mantle of Robin. And, with the Joker safely locked away in Arkham Asylum, safely away from my burning rage, I took to the streets of Gotham once more. I relentlessly destroyed major crime rings and soon even the pettiest of criminals feared to walk the streets.

The Batman had returned with a vengeance; I didn't plan on stopping until either all crime in my city was eradicated or I was dead. No matter how hard they tried, there hadn't been anything Alfred, or Clark, or even Dick could say that would sway me from that mission.

And then? Then I met Timothy Drake and he was so very much like I had once been, too similar in all the ways that mattered.

He came to the Manor with a box full of photographs, documents, and even a chart to back his arguments.

"Batman needs a Robin!" This boy, just barely a teenager, had known for years who Batman and both of his Robins were. He had hunted Nightwing down and begged Dick to come back to me, saying that Batman was killing himself without a Robin by his side, without someone to temper the dark rage inside him.

And, when Dick turned him away, unable to return to this place where he had been so very hurt, Tim had stepped up with confidence and the will to succeed. Like a soldier accepting his duty with honor and pride.

But I had made a pact with myself and I wouldn't allow him in. No training, no friendship, no Robin! But Tim did not take no for an answer, threatening to go to the press with his evidence, to expose not only myself and Dick, but also a number of other superheroes he'd followed when they were in Gotham assisting me.

No matter how much I threatened, coaxed, and tried to bribe him, Tim would not relent. So, I made him train harder, study longer, and endure more than could possibly be expected of him.

And, to my utter surprise, he succeeded.

With gritted teeth, bloody nose and knuckles, and a number of broken bones, Tim fought his way through it all. He was so determined to become Robin, believe so hard that I needed a partner, Robin, that absolutely nothing could stop him from reaching his goal.

In the end, it was all I could do to bow gracefully to the inevitable and Tim became the third Robin to fight alongside Batman.

He's been with me the longest, somehow managing to juggle his life as Tim Drake, high school student and son; Robin, partner and sidekick to the dour Batman; and Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, with a grace that is astounding. At times, I still think we are too similar, but then I will see him laughing with his friends or rough-housing with Dick and I realize that he is just different enough.

Tim is on a team building exercise with Superman and the Teen Titans this week, which is why I've been left to fend for myself against the vultures of Gotham. Normally, I have no problems dealing with the social elite, but tonight the facade of Brucie feels as if it's about to shatter into a million tiny pieces, leaving me vulnerable to each and every snide comment and attack. My heart is beating too fast and I can't seem to get enough air.

'It looks like Tim was right, I do need a Robin.' I think, as I make my way out onto one of the deserted balconies. I look out over my city and wonder, momentarily, if this is what it feels like to lose one's mind.

"Bruce?"

I turn to face the voice, shocked at the fact that someone managed to sneak up on me, and stare dumbfounded at the speaker.

"He must have been indulging 'Brucie' again, Tim. Looks a little drunk to me."

And, of course, Clark would have to add his two cents. Why the man is my best friend (if I even have such a thing) is beyond me.

Tim ineffectively elbows Clark in the side and steps towards me.

"Thought you might need rescuing, so I asked Superman for a favor." He says, holding out a bag I instantly recognize as one that contains a light-weight bat-suit.

And just like that, Brucie shatters and falls away, leaving only Bruce Wayne to accept the bag and the responsibility he has never shirked. With both Tim and Clark standing in front of me, the shattering of myself isn't nearly as painful as I thought it might be... They keep me sane.

Once I've changed, in one of the many coat closets, I make my way to the roof where I'm surprised to find Tim waiting patiently. Clark is nowhere to be found.

"Don't you have to be getting back?" I ask.

Tim only shrugs, grinning in a way that reminds me of Jason's own slightly sarcastic, don't-give-a-damn smile, and stretches a little.

"Nah." And there is Dick's influence on his grammar. "What kind of Robin would I be, if I left Batman to patrol all by himself?"

I'm not even trying to hide my own small smile of contentment as we make our way to the edge of the rooftop.


End file.
